This Sacred Soil by Chief Seattle

Speech Summary

In the speech, Chief Seattle gives the US consent to takes the tribe’s land in exchange for a small reservation, along with a request to visit their dead whenever they would like.
It also compares and contrasts the white and Indian way of life, mainly focusing on religion.
The speech depicts the lasting impression the Native American culture has on America itself.
This speech was given during the time when Native Americans were being confined and almost eliminated by the US, due to western expansion. Therefore this speech shows the Native American perception of the actions of white Americans.

Speaker

• Chief Seattle, Seath, was highly respected among the Native Americas for leading the successful attacks of the Puget Sound tribes.
• He was the leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes.
• The original speech was given by Chief Seattle around 1854 in the Native Lushootseed language.
• The speech discusses the Indian confinement in to reservations.
• The speech was translated into English by Dr. Henry Smith.\

Purpose

• The speech Chief Seattle gave was to convince his people to listen to the Americans and move into reservations; however, they should have the right to visit burial places whenever they please.
• As a result of the speech Chief Seattle agreed to give the US government two-million acres of the tribes land.
• In order to convince his people to move into the reservations, Chief Seattle tells the Indians that the US’s “proposition seems fair” and that their days are numbered, meaning the Native Americans.

Audience

• The speech was given during a treaty negotiations on Dec. 1854 in downtown Seattle.
• It was given in front of Chief Seattle’s fellow tribes men along with Isaac Steven’s, the governor and commissioner of Indian affairs in Washington, and Dr. Henry Smith, who later translated the speech into English.
• The speech itself mainly applied to this audience which consisted of fellow Natives along with Americans who wanted to take the tribe’s land.
• The speaker is talking to this audience because they are the ones that are either effected of have control of the treaty. He tells the Natives to give up their land to the US (The United States is represented by Isaac Stevens).
• The Natives are able to relate to what Chief Seattle is saying more than the white America’s attending the cerimony. Chief Seattle communicates the speech in his native language of Lushootsead which is understood by the fellow Natives.

Medium

• The speech was given verbally by Chief Seattle.
• This, in turn, leaves the authenticity of the speech to be questioned. Therefore the rhetoric used within the speech may be different from what Chief Seattle actually said.
• The contrast between Indian and American culture may be manipulated; however, Chief Seattle’s consent to give up the Native’s land remains the same.

Rhetorical Devises

• Metaphore
  • “Your religion was written upon tables of stone by the iron finger of your God so you could not forget.”
    “Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea.”
• Simile-
  • “My words are like the stars that never change”
    “The Red Man has never fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun.”
• Personification--
  • “ Yonder Sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change.
    “Our bare feet are conscience of the sympathetic touch.”
• Paradox--
  • “Then we will dwell apart in peace…”
• Allusion--
  • “Your God…”
  • “The Red Man…”
• Rhetorical Question
  • “How then can we be brothers?”
  • “But why should I mourn over the untimely fate of my people?”
• Anaphora
  • “Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished.”
• Parallelism
  • “…when your children’s children think they are alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone.

Rhetoric

• Pathos—
  • Sorrow- "We will dwell apart in peace...", Chief Seattle discusses the fact that his tribes will move onto reservations and the best they can now do is to live out the remant of thier life and culture in peace.
  • Finality- "...we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many."
  • Empowerment- " The White Men will never be alone." The quote implies that their tribes legacy will live on, empowering and strengthening the morality of his people.
• Ethos
  • Chief Seattle is the chief of the tribe being spoken to. He has authority over the decisions made and the future of his tribesmen.
• Logos-
  • Chief Seattle uses logic in the set up of his speach. In the begining he forewarns his people that thier lives will have to change. This preludes to him giving reasons why they must go onto the reservation, the different ideals of the White Man. He then empowers his people at the end giving them hope that thier legacy will live on.
• Mythos
  • "Our religion is the traditions of our ansestors." Chief Seattle goes on to discuss the premise in which his tribes spirituality is different than the White Man's beliefs.

I Will Fight No More Forever by Chief Joseph

Speech Summary
The speech given on October 5th, 1877 as a formal surrender to the United States government. The Nez Perce tribe led by Chief Joseph would from this point not be involved in the conflict between Native Americans and the United States.It is a speech given by a man who is tired of seeing his people’s numbers constantly withering away, who is tired of seeing children fall a futile battle, and who is now ready to put his arms up and cease all fighting.

Speaker

• Chief Joseph – Chief of the Nez Perce Native Americans. Significance of this being obvious, he’s an influential and powerful member of the Native Americans as a whole and this surrender would be considered a significant event in the United States push into Western Territory.

Purpose

• To surrender.
• To tell the U.S. government that during a time where there numbers dwindle that this is not a time for simple peace talks or drafts of treaty between the 2 opposing sides. His people as he speaks are freezing to death in the harsh conditions of the season.

Audience

• United States Government.
• During the time period of westward expansion, near the grounds of the battle (Idaho). They are speaking to the US Government and to a certain extent other Native American tribes who are involved in the conflict. They are tired, hungry, freezing to death, and are ready to lay their arms down. To the native americans one would get out of this surrender a huge loss of a tribe who had always opposed how they were being treated. To those in the U.S. Govt. they’d see this as another step forward to meet their “Divine Right” (Manifest Destiny).

Medium

• Verbal speech given by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians.

Rhetorical Devices

• Epistrophe
  • Use of epistrophe in speech to better convey significance of those who have been lost "...is dead"
• Inversion
  • “My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food.”
• Parallelism
  • Short simple sentences set out a straightforward tone. Used to show his honesty and to almost imply that this was no time for bureaucracy at a time where his people were dieing.

Main Appeal:

• Pathos (Emotion)
  • In this speech the Nez Perce Chief conveys images of his people freezing or lost in the wilderness that was the Americas during this time period. His people were dieing and his tribe dwindling away. If 1 word were to describe this it would be “Urgency”.
    He’s tired of what’s been going on and he and his people have been stretched to their breaking points both emotionally and physically and this speech is made to

BY: Period 5 Honors English presentation